Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people generally tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site is a great way to personalize your organization.

This tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-maintain employee directory in your site.

Adding An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you display information about your staff on your website.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your WordPress dashboard and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will appear in the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new staff entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place youremployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups section …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter your category description
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up the new category …

(Groups screen)

If you run a medium to large organization, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …

To edit or reassign Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

The selected category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings opens up …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify the slug for each employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your staff member’s position
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …

(Staff directory fields)

Once you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …

Your new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an entry to the group …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can edit your staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• The WordPress Administration Area Explained

Note: If errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add more entries to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find listing items …

(Search Staff Members search box)

You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which listings show on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which entries display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a new location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all member listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Templates screen)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can decide to use to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])

Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need specific help with this plugin, visit the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin author.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are some other plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

The Modern Team Staff Directory plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.

The plugin also lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

Detailed information about  each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the above plugins aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

• Add Staff Directory To WordPress
• WordPress Staff List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory to your WordPress site using a free WP plugin.

Images of models used to portray fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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